This invention relates to an oscillatory gyroscope that is related to the POGA (Pendulous Oscillating Gyroscopic Accelerometer) disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,993 issued on Oct. 17, 1995. The gyro is referred to as a Closed Loop Oscillating Gyroscope (CLOG). Its structure is identical to the POGA without the pendulous mass. Unlike other vibratory gyros, the primary output motion is an angular displacement and not an oscillation.
The CLOG is an attractive concept since it benefits from the development of the POGA. The POGA accelerometer and the CLOG gyro represent the same technology base. A system comprised of these gyros and accelerometers can therefore realize lower fabrication costs and reduced development effort.
In the case of the POGA, a pendulous mass is maintained at null by the counter balance provided by a gyroscopic torque. In the CLOG, the gyro sensing the rotation of the vehicle is counter balanced by an internal, variable gyro. The internal gyro is the gyro of the POGA.
In addition, typical gyroscopes have been based on three dimensional configurations consisting of cylinders of revolution. The CLOG can be achieved in both cylindrical and planar configurations. The planar configurations allow the fabrication using photolithographic means for patterning. The planar fabrication approaches used can lead to size and power reduction and lead to lower costs.